When people say cats are low maintenance they don't mean they are air plants. They also don't mean it as a law... of course there are cats that are totally nuts... they are living things, there are no hard laws.

I've had a highly annoying cat that kept me awake all night knocking crap over, trying to smother me, crying etc if you didn't wake up to service him. However I haven't met another cat like him. Other cats I've had slept, ate, wandered around a bit, slept some more, climbed to some place high where they could watch stuff, slept, cuddled, attacked stuff/me. Really they were easy easy animals and that goes for most cats I know. I never thought to myself "you really have to get home to attend to the cat's needs" (can't recollect ever hearing that) and nobody ever had a problem.

Not the same with a dog. You have to let it out, train it, you have to sacrifice time out of your day to walk it.

I've always free fed cats and never had a weight problem but I know that doesn't work for everyone. If it does that's one more thing you don't have to worry about. And of course you spend time cuddling, playing with it etc but neither myself nor anybody I know has had to set aside time specifically for their cat.

This. Cats ARE typically easier than dogs. You don't have to rush home to let them out. When you're sick, you don't have to suck it up and take them for a walk anyhow. They're typically going to run you less money as far as food and such. Jeeze, people, get your panties out of a wad. No one's saying you should get a cat and never do anything with it because, "Hey, it's just a cat..." And I certainly am not saying Jairi should get a cat. But yes, cats ARE typically going to be easier to care for than dogs.

Can't remember the last time I went pee alone. Cider can push the door in to check on me.. Smudge 2-3x a potty pushes the door to make sure I didn't leave via the magic door. Kerri's JRT girls feel the need to sit on my lap on the toilet.. and Arson now wants half his body in my lap and won't let me enter the bathroom without him..

This. Cats ARE typically easier than dogs. You don't have to rush home to let them out. When you're sick, you don't have to suck it up and take them for a walk anyhow. They're typically going to run you less money as far as food and such. Jeeze, people, get your panties out of a wad. No one's saying you should get a cat and never do anything with it because, "Hey, it's just a cat..." And I certainly am not saying Jairi should get a cat. But yes, cats ARE typically going to be easier to care for than dogs.

I think some of us (myself included) think that cats might make a better pet for someone who wants a little less work and involvement. That is not to say a cat is fine for someone who has no time to care for and love, be social with. No one is saying it's okay to have a cat and ignore it completely and certainly it's not okay to let it starve. They're social animals. Some aren't as much as others. But many cats love cuddling and hanging out with their families.

They don't require training to be a nice pet. Dogs really do. They don't need to be taken for a walk. Dogs thrive on taking walks or some form of exercise and romping. They can have a litter box that lasts for quite a while if you're gone over the week end. And they often times free feed okay. I had one cat though, that would eat the whole thing. He was a piglet.

Anyhow, here's the thing that I think might make some of us see a difference between a more dependent, attention hog: the dog and a less dependent, care-for-himself a little better: the cat is......that some think the cat is in the process of becoming domesticated. Or if the cat is already domesticated, it happened much more recently than the dog. The dog and human, it is thought had a convergent evolution that began a lot further back in history. This evolving right alongside each other and influencing each other's own evolution makes the dog much more attached at the hip to us, I think. They're genetically designed to live with people by way of this converging evolution. The whole human dog thing is really quite phenomenal. Domestic dogs are a total phenomenon in themselves.

So while I don't think cats should be starved, ignored, left to their own devices, I think they're easier as a pet for busy people on the go than dogs might be. They still thrive on attention, companionship and love....at least I'd say the majority of them. Some are so independent, they really don't have time for their people. I've seen plenty of those. I was lucky in that all the cats I've had (5) were really very sociable and just great companions.

However....I don't think Teal should have any animal because there's something really wrong and no animal should ever be subjected to what this fila puppy was.

__________________"If you love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen." -- Samuel Adams 1776

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

This. Cats ARE typically easier than dogs. You don't have to rush home to let them out. When you're sick, you don't have to suck it up and take them for a walk anyhow. They're typically going to run you less money as far as food and such. Jeeze, people, get your panties out of a wad. No one's saying you should get a cat and never do anything with it because, "Hey, it's just a cat..." And I certainly am not saying Jairi should get a cat. But yes, cats ARE typically going to be easier to care for than dogs.

lol who's getting their "panties in a wad"? All I'm saying is (and this comes from 30 years experience of owning both cats and dogs) cats require just as much maintenance as dogs, it's just they require it in different areas, and it's usually the people who think otherwise that get them and then end up dumping them in a shelter. A "low maintenance pet" is a betta fish, not a dog or cat.